


Digimon Adventure Santengo

by Lukeumon



Category: Digimon - All Media Types, Digimon Adventure, Digimon Adventure Zero Two | Digimon Adventure 02, Digimon Adventure tri.
Genre: Action/Adventure, Alternate Timelines, Chaptered, Deleted Scenes, F/F, F/M, Fan Series, Gap Filler, Gen, Headcanon, LGBTQ Character, M/M, Mystery, Post-Digimon Adventure tri., Wish Fulfillment, episodic
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-10-04
Updated: 2020-11-12
Packaged: 2021-03-07 17:15:17
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 13,938
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26811256
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lukeumon/pseuds/Lukeumon
Summary: Set a year before Digimon Last Evolution Kizuna.Digimon have begun to appear in the real world, frenzied and ready for violence. Now the Digidestined have a duty to subdue and return them to the Digital World, and a legion of new people with Digimon partners to teach. But after one fight, something is wrong. Instead of returning to a Digital Gate, the Digimon reverts to a corrupted DigiEgg, suddenly Digimon can't evolve normally and the Digimon appearing are more violent than usual. Digimon in the Digital World are getting their memories from before the digital world reboot back. And something is coming.Koshiro takes center stage to research the strange phenomenon happening, as the other chosen ones come up with creative solutions to battle. It will take everything the Digidestined have got to get to the bottom of this, no holding back now.(Please note character and relationship tags are incomplete to prevent some spoilers, they will be updated by the chapter)
Relationships: Ichijouji Ken/Motomiya Daisuke | Davis Motomiya, Mochizuki Meiko/Yagami Taichi | Tai Kamiya
Comments: 1
Kudos: 23





	1. Interference

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Daisuke and Takeru guide a fledging Digidestined to fight an emerging Digimon, but the battle goes horribly wrong, and a new mystery emerges when it's over.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you enjoy Digimon Adventure Santengo! This is my wish fulfillment fan series of sorts, to bridge the gap between tri. and Kizuna, to bring elements and stories to the table that the other Adventure series and movies didn't explore or skimmed over. You'll see what I mean during the first chapter!

Odaiba relished in the beautiful weather, a clear sky and a cool breeze to balance out the harsh summer sun. It was the weekend, but unfortunately that meant little for the young adults of the world. No longer did the weekend mean freedom and no responsibility. It usually meant another monotonous day of work and probably busier too for some, including Daisuke Motomiya.

Now 18, Daisuke was done with his education and felt he was ready to face the real world. What better way than to get a job? He had aspirations deep in his heart and knew what he wanted from his future, but he knew he had to start out small.

_Bing-bong!_

The Lawson convenience store doors opened.

"Welcome to the store!" Daisuke shouted from the back a little later than his colleagues as he stacked the shelves with sweets.

"There he is," said the familiar voice that had entered the store

Daisuke turned around and smiled, "Takeru! Nice to see you!"

Takeru couldn't help but snicker.

"You can drop the formalities dude. I'm not a stranger."

Koshiro was with him. He shot Daisuke a smile and went to pick out some lunch.

"Just trying to get into the combini spirit," Daisuke sighed as he clumsily dropped a box.

Takeru squatted to hand it to him, "Seems like you're doing a good job. You're still free tonight, right?"

"I have no plans. A patrol sounds good to me. Where are we headed?"

Koshiro returned to the two, arms filled with onigiri and bottles of oolong tea. He dropped them into a basket and took out his phone, displaying a map of Tokyo with red circles of varying intensity and size.

"I've been picking up Digital World photon packets increasing in density around Nakano, so something will probably turn up there tonight."

"Who's coming?" Daisuke asked.

"Most of our group are busy tonight," Takeru answered, "work, family, school. I'm around though."

"Alright, a classic Daisuke/Takeru teamup! The invading Digimon won't know what hit 'em!"

Takeru brought out his phone, "Sure, we're great, but just in case I've called in some backup on Digi-chan."

Digi-chan was a message board that Koshiro set up a couple of years after Meiko moved away. It allowed those with Digimon partners around the world to socialise, after some strict identity confirmation of course. Digimon had been popping up around the real world every so often and it was unknown why. Always in a frenzy, unable to be reasoned with and had to be beaten into submission. Digi-chan allowed people to track the Digimon emergences and band together to help deal with them.

"Don't you have faith in me and V-mon?" Daisuke asked, teasing but also kind of hurt, "we can take whatever gets thrown at us."

"Sure. But some of these people need more experience. If a bigger threat comes they won't be able to stop it without you and Ken or Taichi and Yamato swooping in to save the day by combining your Digimon."

Koshiro interjected, "only about 1 in 100 of the non-chosen children with Digimon have been able to make their Digimon evolve past the Adult level. Gennai and I are still looking into that. For now, they need to be shown that it won't just take brute strength to beat every enemy."

Daisuke had finished putting out his stock at this point. 

"But brute strength and no brains are kinda my style. Who are we meeting up with then?"

Takeru showed some pictures on his phone. A feisty businesswoman who easily had a decade on Daisuke, but with the enthusiastic smile to hide it shaking hands with an old looking man in a suit, and elegantly coiled around her neck was her Digimon, "that's Musashi and Kudamon."

Daisuke was ogling at Musashi, but his stare was rudely interrupted by Patamon's sudden appearance on the screen, his cute little voice spoke loudly from inside, "and she's married so don't try anything!"

Daisuke blushed.

"Anyway we'll leave you to your work." Takeru laughed.

Koshiro joined in, "Yeah, I don't want to waste much more of my break."

They said goodbye, paid for their stuff and left. Daisuke then dashed to the corner, his favourite blind spot from the cameras and looked on his smartwatch to see a beaming V-mon.

***

8 P.M., Nakano, just outside the station. A late summer dusk was settling in and the streets were busy with chatter and laughter. But there was an air of uncertainty, they walked with caution as if the air was warning them of something. At the entrance of the strip of stores toward Nakano Broadway, static electricity began to snap and show face. Takeru and Patamon were already on the scene.

"Everyone, a Digimon is about to emerge! Please evacuate to a safe area!" he said

Though this wasn't too much of a common occurrence, people knew it was series. They quickly and without panic made the area clear. The only people left were Takeru, Musashi and their Digimon.

"Isn't your friend supposed to show up?" Kudamon asked.

Patamon sighed, "Yup. He's always late."

They braced themselves, a hole ripped open in the air. A claw grabbed the edge of it and pulled its body out, a dark burning Digimon; DarkLizardmon.

As if on cue, Daisuke came running from the train station, V-mon at his side.

"Right on time." Musashi smirked.

Daisuke blushed,"S-sorry."

Wasting no time, DarkLizamon bolted straight toward the group.

"SNIPE FANG!!!" it called as its jaw opened wide and it leapt at Kudamon.

"V-HEADBUTT!"

V-mon launched himself at the Digimon, narrowly stopping its attack from connecting and tumbling the two to the ground

DarkLizamon swatted V-mon away as if he were paper. Daisuke called out to him and ran over to help him up.

"AIR SHOT!" Patamon yelled, blasting at DarkLizamon before it had a chance to respond.

But the move didn't do anything. Not even a scratch. Kudamon started slinking toward it and attacked with "ZEKKOU SHOU!", unleashing a sharp bolt of lightning from the ring on its neck, but again it didn't faze the Digimon. Not thinking to stop, Kudamon was right in its line of sight.

"DREAD FLARE!"

An inferno of black flame erupted from the ground beneath Kudamon catching it in the searing flames. Kudamon cried out in pain.

"Kudamon!" Mushashi screamed.

Takeru shouted to his partner, "get him out of there!"

Patamon flew over to Kudamon, just as V-mon was running behind DarkLizamon.

"V-HEADBUTT!"

DarkLizamon turned around, grabbed V-mon and launched him toward Kudamon and Patamon, making his attack collide with them instead. The three fell to the ground in a daze.

"He's too strong!" Musashi exclaimed.

Takeru grabbed his Digivice, "Patamon! Better evolve!"

He posed dramatically pointing it at Patamon...but nothing happened.

"Evolve!" he called out.

But nothing happened.

"We can't evolve?!" Daisuke cried, running to Takeru's side.

DarkLizamon started to sprint toward the people as their Digimon lay exhausted on the ground.

Takeru fished around his pocket and brought out his D-Terminal, "That's a new one. Well, there's one more option."

Daisuke pulled his hair in frustration, "I forgot mine!"

Takeru shouted "DIGIMENTAL-" but was interrupted-

"DARK PAIN!" the evil Digimon yelled, as purple storm clouds appeared around Takeru's head. Lightning struck him. He cried out and collapsed, dropping the D-Terminal to the ground.

Musashi could only watch in silent horror as they got absolutely wiped. Daisuke saw this, and it was enough to give him the courage he needed to step up.

"I don't know if this will work," he said, picking up Takeru's D-Terminal, "but we have no other options."

He held it up in the air and shouted; "DIGIMENTAL UP!!"

His Digivice shone in response and V-mon rose up. Projected from the Digivice was the Digimental of Hope.

"V-MON ARMOR SHINKA!!"

He merged with the egg, taking on a new form. Quadruped, armored and with a bow.

"ARCH OF HOPE, SAGITTARIMON!"

"It worked…!" Daisuke mumbled to himself.

Sagittarimon ran circles around DarkLizamon with great speed and power, galloping flames under his feet. In one hand, an arrow of flames appeared. He drew it into his bow and took aim at DarkLizamon.

"JUDGEMENT ARROW!" he shouted.

The arrow flung from the bow and landed right in DarkLizamon's eye with precision. The Digimon squealed monstrously in pain.

In each of Sagittarimon's claws, more arrows lit up. He loaded them all into the bow and fired, striking DarkLizamon at various points. The Digimon hunkered down.

"Not such a bigshot now are you?" Daisuke laughed.

Sagttarimon stomped over to the Digimon and raised its front hooves high, "METEOR GALLOP!", he pounded relentlessly onto the Digimon with fiery stomps, exploding on each impact.

DarkLizamon burst into light and its form disappeared, leaving only a white DigiEgg in its place.

"Sorry your first battle was a bit terrifying, Musashi." said Daisuke.

She sighed like the weight of the world had been lifted from her shoulders "I'm just glad we're alive. Thank you Sagittarimon."

She rushed over to Kudamon and coiled him around her neck, petting him softly.

"Sagittarimon! You were amazing!" Daisuke called out as he went to tend to Takeru.

Sagittarimon shone and turned back to V-mon, the Digimental returned to Takeru's D-Terminal.

"We should do that more often! I want to evolve into all kinds of forms! he laughed.

"Maybe next time," Daisuke chuckled, "Takeru, you okay? We won."

Takeru groaned and sat up, "Did you use my Digimental? We can do that?"

"Apparently!"

"But we couldn't evolve normally."

"That IS unusual."

"Hey, boys?" Musashi pondered, pointing at the Digi-Egg which was shaking violently.

"Wait, a Digi-Egg? You didn't just knock it out?" Takeru asked.

"Woah," Daisuke gasped only just realising, "we didn't mean to go that far! I was too distracted to call in a Digital Gate to send it home. It's okay though, it's hatching already." 

It stopped shaking, bolting upright, then its white hue paled into a sickly grey and the shell cracked, the cracks glowing purple.

"That's not right," said Patamon.

"Does this not happen usually?" Musashi asked.

"Nope." Daisuke responded.

Takeru added, "let's take the egg to Koshiro."

\---

Koshiro was in his office. Recently having upgraded his computer, he was playing around with his settings and programs. His new company Izumi Enterprises had a bang of interest almost immediately and he was getting all kinds of requests for job interviews and partnership offers from tech firms and universities thanks to his connection with Digimon. He felt it would be keeping him busy for a while. The oolong tea bottles were piling up, but Tentomon was on it cleaning up after him. 

"Koshiro-han, take a break. You've been playing with your new computer all day now."

"I'm not playing, Tentomon. I'm working."

"Sure. But why don't we go for a walk?" 

Koshiro stretched and looked out the window, shocked it was dark out. 

"Okay. Let's-" 

_Knock knock._

Tentomon sighed. 

"Come in," said Koshiro. 

In came Daisuke, Takeru and their Digimon. Takeru cradled the DigiEgg in his arms. 

"Hey guys. The… That DigiEgg…" he looked at Patamon and V-Mon who seemed perfectly fine. 

Takeru nodded, "usually they disappear into a Digital Gate but this one… its a little odd." 

"Is it damaged?" Koshiro said, coming closer to inspect it. He rubbed a finger on the cracks, "no, the cracks don't create a weaker shell. It's almost like it's just an aesthetic." 

"It was a DarkLizamon we were fighting. It was pretty strong but we've faced stronger before. Didn't even damage anything." Takeru noted. 

"And we've discovered something pretty amazing. We can use each other's Digimentals for Armor Evolution. V-Mon used Takeru's Digimental of Hope and kicked ass as Sagittarimon!" Daisuke bragged. 

Koshiro blinked slowly, fully distracted for a moment, "Prodigious... How have you never thought to do that before? "

He shook his head and returned to looking at the egg. 

"So do you know what's up?" Daisuke chimed in. 

Koshiro went back to his computer, "no. DigiEggs aren't exactly my area of expertise. I've never studied one up close now that I think about it." he was typing with haste, sending a message out, "please be online…" he muttered to himself. 

_Ba-boop!_

He got an instant response. 

"Excellent. I've contacted Joe. He may have a little more insight but I know someone else who will know even more. You can meet up with Joe in the Digital World." 

Daisuke laughed, "Joe actually responded in less than five hours? I'm impressed!"

\---

Though it was night time in Japan, the Digital World was enjoying a cozy sunset. In particular, Primary Village was peaceful with snoozing baby Digimon. 

Sat at a table on the plush meadows, in chairs way smaller than any of the humans' waists, Takeru, Daisuke and Joe had met with Elecmon. 

"... And there was nothing wrong with the DarkLizamon?" 

Daisuke shook his head, "seemed pretty normal all things considered. Just violent. It went down easy." 

"I've studied the physiology of some Digimon and DigiEggs," Joe noted, "but I'm sorry to say I've seen nothing like this before."

"Well, I can tell you for sure. I have seen an egg like this. Just once. And sorry to send you on a wild goose chase, but it was when your friend Ken's partner Wormmon wound up here all those years ago."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I've wanted to write a Digimental swap story for a long time now. I wanted it to be a key component for how the 02 chosens fight in this fic, since regular evolution is off the table for now. I also wanted a Digimon story that was more diverse in locations in Tokyo hence why the fight happens in Nakano. As I write this I'm currently writing the third chapter of the story, and for now it's Daisuke and Koshiro heavy. That's my bias I guess. I hope you like those characters, they're here a lot from the start!


	2. Resurgence

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ken discovers something frightening about the mysterious DigiEgg that appeared the night before, and a Digimon fight breaks out on the beach of Odaiba.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm going to try and update weekly, but please don't take that as a promise! At time of writing I have 4 chapters finished, I'm really excited to show what I've written! Enjoy chapter 2!
> 
> This chapter has a mild depiction of PTSD and dissociation which starts at the sentence "What was a split second in reality...", so if that's something that may disturb you CTRL+F "Ken wrapped his arm" to skip it.

"Ken and Wormmon," Daisuke pondered, "I'll go and see Ken tomorrow with the egg and see if he can tell us anything.

"Something doesn't add up," said Joe, "That was so long ago, and even then, it was before the Digital World was rebooted. Elecmon, you shouldn't be able to remember that."

Elecmon looked to both Joe and Daisuke with confusion, "has nobody told you?" 

"Told us what?" Daisuke asked. 

"There's a Digimon with the power to restore memories from before the reboot happened. It's phenomenal!" 

Joe choked on air, "what?! That's major! How did we not hear about this?" 

"We have been kind of out of touch with the Digital World recently…" Daisuke sighed. 

"Who is this Digimon, Elecmon?" Joe asked. 

"He's a Digimon called Bearmon. He just touches you on the head and then wham, there come your old memories." 

Joe texted furiously on his phone, "I need to tell everyone about this. We've been so worried avoiding our friends in the Digital World because they might not remember us. But now…" 

"Thanks for your help, Elecmon," said Daisuke. 

"No problem fellas." 

"Do you know where Bearmon is now?" Joe asked. 

"I hear he travels around helping out Digimon. Couldn't tell you exactly where he is, but it could be worth asking other Digimon. Well… ones that aren't babies of course." 

***

Daisuke had the next day off, and since it was a Sunday Ken didn't have classes. So they met at their favourite standing ramen joint at Akihabara Station with Chibimon and Minomon. 

"No matter how much ramen we try around the world we always end up back here," Ken laughed. 

Daisuke finished slurping up his ramen in one go, "Delicious!! That's cause it's the best! One more please!" 

The server took his bowl. 

"We should try some other cuisines on our next proper date. Let's get pizza in Rome." 

"Ramen is just the ultimate food, Ken. And you don't need to hop through digital gates to get it at its best. But sure, let's go to Rome some time!" 

Ken smiled, looking his human partner in the eyes, who was looking intently at the pot of ramen being cooked. Ken and Daisuke had only recently started trying being together as a couple, over the years their close friendship had evolved. Their mutual love of travelling the world had made them realise they enjoy spending time together beyond just a friendship, and their bond was romantic.

Like now, Daisuke was often distracted. It was usually down to Ken to bring him back to earth. 

"So, this Digiegg?" he asked. 

Daisuke nodded and reached down to his backpack where the egg was. 

He brought it to the counter and Ken looked deeply at it. 

"I didn't see Wormmon in his egg, he hatched before I found him," Ken said. "But- AGH!" 

Ken touched the egg and yelped softly as he flinched, it had given him an electric shock. Something it hadn't done to anyone else before.

"Ken-chan!" yelped Minomon. 

"You okay?" Daisuke asked, putting a hand on his shoulder. 

"Yeah, just a little static… this egg feels familiar to me. Let me just…" 

He put both hands on the egg and braced as it shocked him. It stopped after a few seconds, then Ken's pupils shrank. He shivered. So cold. Yet so familiar. 

"Ken!!" Daisuke shook him. 

"Do you need me to call an ambulance?" the server asked. 

Minomon hopped onto Ken's head, his eyes distressed and tearful, holding tight onto his partner, "Ken-chan! Stop it, come back!" 

What was a split second in reality seemed like a long time in Ken's mind. He wasn't in the ramen restaurant, he was falling slowly, struggling to fall and he couldn't breathe. Like he was in tar. It was a familiar feeling, one he hadn't felt in a long time. He could hear a voice, too faint to make out what it was saying, let alone whether it belonged to a man, woman, Digimon or someone else. But it was three distinct and separate beats, or syllables, repeatedly every few seconds. 

Ken fell for what felt like hours. Feeling everything he thought he had since gotten over. Anxiety. Depression. Regret. Worthlessness. All feelings he had long happily abandoned. Symptoms he had not felt since the last time he-

Ken snapped back to reality and gasped to catch his breath, coughing as he let go of the egg. 

"Ken, are you okay?" Daisuke asked, cradling him in his arms, "I didn't know that would happen, man. It didn't happen to anyone else who touched it."

Ken wrapped his arm around Daisuke's shoulders, and with his other hand put Minomon hanging from that arm, "I'll be fine. Thank you." 

He took a moment to adjust himself and studied the egg. 

"I felt like I was transported somewhere. No, it was more like a vision. It was cold… Evil… I haven't felt that way since the last time… The last time I was at the Dark Ocean."

***

Back in Odaiba, on the beach, Iori sat under the shade of a tree basking in the pleasent and peaceful cool air. Next to him was a sports bag with his kendo equipment, and on top of it Armadimon snoozing happily. Though he was relaxing, Iori was on edge. He had come to the beach after his kendo practise anticipating the appearance of a Digimon. He was pretty much the only one of the group of chosen ones who regularly checked emerging Digimon data, it was a nervous habit. He didn't want anybody to be hurt. When he could make it to stop a Digimon he would, and it seemed like one was going to appear just offshore shortly.

He checked his phone again, having messaged the group chat asking if anyone would come to assist. Most were busy. Taichi was in Tottori (too blunt headed to think to use digital gates), Daisuke and Ken were resting after their stressful lunch, Mimi, Sora and Miyako were in different countries, so there was no point expecting a response. Nobody else had responded, except Takeru who was on his way. Takeru was always around, his roots seemed firmly planted in Odaiba.

"Stop looking at your phone and take in the fresh air!" mumbled Armadimon. 

Iori nodded and put the phone away, then closed his eyes. Took a deep breathe in of the humid sea air, and out-

His breath was interrupted by a loud humming and crackle of electricity. The Digimon was emerging. He shot up, as if he was ever relaxing in the first place. Armadimon slowly got up, yawning. 

Just in the distance, Takeru was arriving with Patamon. Iori waved them over and held his phone up to the digital gate, scanning for data on the Digimon. Takeru caught his breath as Iori read the data. 

"It's gonna be MarineChimeramon. Its in a crazed state. A Perfect level. It won't leave the sea but that doesn't mean it won't do any damage."

"Shakkoumon should be able to take care of it," Patamon smirked. 

Something ripped put of the digital gate at high speed, then leapt out of the water. A hideous mishmash of aquatic Digimon, MarineChimeramon. It was fast and deadly. Ripping through the water in the direction of some children swimming. Takeru and Iori held out their phones. 

"Patamon!" 

"Armadimon!"

In unison, "SHINKA!" 

The Digimon braced themselves to evolve but nothing happened. Iori felt his heart catapult in anxiety. 

"Damn it, this happened yesterday too!" Takeru yelled, "We have to Armor evolve." 

"Right!" Iori said nervously and brought out his D-Terminal, "we still have good odds. DIGIMENTAL UP!" 

Armadimon dove into the water and shone brilliantly as Iori's phone cast a beam of light onto him. 

"ARMADIMON, ARMOR SHINKA! WHIRLING FAITHFULNESS, SUBMARIMON!" 

Takeru ruffled around in his pockets panicked, "Who am I, Daisuke? I forgot my D-Terminal!" 

Iori gasped, "Patamon will never catch up to Submarimon in time, and Submarimon can't take it on alone!" 

"Give me your D-Terminal," Takeru said running up to Iori. 

"What?" 

"Trust me! This will work, Daisuke did it yesterday!" 

Iori hesitantly handed Takeru the D-Terminal. Takeru held his phone out toward Patamon. 

"DIGIMENTAL UP!" 

Light burst from Iori's D-TERMINAL, projecting the crest of Knowledge and engulfed Patamon, who began to change form. 

"PATAMON ARMOR SHINKA!!" 

Patamon grew a little, becoming hunched forward and a massive railgun appeared between his legs. His wings turned to antennas and he gained a pair of bug wings on his back. 

"WISEST FUSILADE! MOTHMON!" 

"What the…?" gasped Iori. 

"We can talk about it later! Go after the Digimon!" 

Mothmon and Submarimon shot along following MarineChimeramon. Takeru and Iori couldn't keep up but they ran along the coast to keep close to the action. Iori rang up Koshiro.

"Koshiro, we're fighting MarineChimeramon. Standby so you can open a digital gate." 

"MORPHON GATLING!" Mothmon called, firing an incredible number of rounds into the water, curving its machine-gun tail to create an arc of bullets, trapping MarineChimeramon and stopping it from ripping through the water. 

The monstrous Digimon's eyes followed the pattern Mothmon was making, and then it started swimming in the opposite direction in circles. The water began to flow the same way. 

"POSEIDON VORTEX!" it screeched as the water turned into a violent whirlpool. The bullets that had fallen into the water got caught up in the rapids and started to circle around alongside MarineChimeramon. 

Underwater, it looked at the approaching Submarimon and sped up its spinning, making the vortex too volatile to approach. Mothmon couldn't aim properly because it was moving too fast, they could only wait and see what would happen. MarineChimeramon threw its spear toward Submarimonand the flow of the vortex followed it, carrying a sharp and swift round of Mothmon's bullets as they smacked Submarimon with the same velocity as if they had just been shot. Submarimon cried out in terror as it was barraged.

"Submarimon!" Iori cried. 

"Mothmon you have to think of something!" Takeru pleaded. 

Mothmon panicked and started rambling, "I can't let it go, it'll attack those people at the dock… but it's using my attacks against Submarimon. AGH!" 

"Distract it, and I'll attack it!" Submarimon whimpered. 

"MORPHON GATLING!" Mothmon shouted. 

And again, started firing at MarineChimeramon who repeated its same tactic as last time, but this time Submarimon was ready. 

"OXYGEN HOMING!" Submarimon shouted as it shot two missiles toward their foe. 

But the missiles got swept up in the vortex and exploded on impact with the bullets, leaving a smoky black mess swirling in the water. MarineChimeramon was blinded and-

"That's it!!" Mothmon shouted with relief, "Submarimon, follow my lead!" 

Submarimon looked up outside the water to watch Mothmon carefully and nodded. 

"MORPHON GATLING!!" 

More bullets entered the fray, stopping MarineChimeramon from dealing with the smoke polluting its vision. But quickly after, Mothmon began to buzz its wings and shake its torso madly. 

"GAUSS POWDER!" It yelled as gunpowder fell from its body, mixing with the whirlpool, "now!" 

"OXYGEN HOMING!" Submarimon card, firing off again, and KABOOM!!! A completely isolated explosion flared in MarineChimeramon's whirlpool, knocking it high into the air dazed. 

"Now Koshiro!" Iori shouted. 

A digital gate opened underneath the Digimon and it fell in, then the gate closed leaving peace at the beach. 

Thankfully there was no physical damage, but the water was very smokey and polluted. Mothmon and Submarimon joined their partners on the seaside and reverted to their Child forms. 

"I think I'm gonna need a spa day after that one," sighed Armadimon. 

"You did well guys! Thank you!" said Takeru. 

Iori gazed wistfully at the water, "what a mess. We could have handled that better."

"You always get hung up on these things Iori," said Patamon, "don't worry too much about it. We do enough good, we can't always be perfect." 

"Patamon's right," Takeru smiled patting Iori's shoulder, "about both of those things. You always worry more than you need to. We had to rush into this fight. It was all touch and go." 

Iori smiled at his friends reassurance, but it turned to a frown again, "it's all because we couldn't evolve normally. It reminds me of when we fought against the Digimon Kaiser. Shakkoumon would have dealt with this nice and clean. And then there's how you used my Digimental. I had no idea that was possible, and then-" 

Armadimon tackled Iori to the ground," relax, Iori! You've got too much on your mind! You almost had it before this battle!"

Iori took a deep sigh to ease his anxious state,"sorry. Yeah, I'll take the rest of the day off. Thanks for your help today Takeru." 

"No problem, man. I'm only a phone call away if you need anything," he smiled, "see you later." 

"Bye bye!" said Patamon. 

Iori smiled and waved, then returned to the spot he started in and lay down, closed his eyes, finally started to relax. But there was still something racing through his mind after that battle.

\---

Koshiro was supposed to be working on a project commissioned of him by a nearby University, but Iori had just left after coming to him to talk about the battle. Koshiro saw a lot of himself in Iori, so it came as no surprise when the boy had a brilliant idea, one that Koshiro was embarrassed he didn't think of right away. He began work immediately, engrossed and undistractable with no break as he mashed away at his keyboard. 

They discussed the Digimentals, how they could apparently lend each other's D-Terminals to use one another's special armor evolutions. Patamon, Tailmon, V-Mon, Hawkmon, Armadimon, Wormmon. In their years dealing with Digimon the chosen ones learned that those Digimon had a special ancient gene in them that made them compatible with the Digimentals, the other partner Digimon like Agumon did not possess it, so theoretically they could not armor evolve.

They had never thought to use one another's Digimentals, the situation just never came up. It was really a pinch these last two times. But Iori brought up a point, why not do it all the time? Could Koshiro construct a server to store the Digimental via the D-Terminals for everyone to use with the Digivice phones he had made?

Why not? Koshiro had thought. He had made many advances replicating and advancing Digivice technology like making the special digital space Digimon could go into, replicating the Digivice code into a smartphone of his own design. He asked to borrow Iori's D-Terminal to see what he could do. And it was surprisingly easy for him, within a couple of hours he had done it. A cloud storage compatible with Digivice phones containing the Digimental of Knowledge and Sincerity. Now those with the ancient gene could use them anytime. He sent the chosen one group chat an APK to the app they could use to do so. Daisuke in particular was very excited to try it out. 

And with that, Koshiro was exhausted. He decides to call it a night and go home. It was his parents' anniversary the next day and he had a great day planned for them.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Daiken rise up! I've realised I have a massive 02 bias. It's just going to keep showing through the fic, so have fun with that lol.
> 
> There's a strong mystery element to this story as you're probably seeing, with the DigiEgg, the pre-reboot memories, etc. And I do have answers for it all that I hope are satisfying! I can't wait to get to the meat of these mysteries. 
> 
> Next chapter has something really special happen, I was excited to write it for months so please look forward to it!


	3. Pursuit

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The situation is dire as Koshiro runs into problems when making plans for his parents' anniversary.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you enjoy chapter 3, this was one I was very excited to write. I had been visualising a specific scene for months! I hope it lives up to my hype.

After the incident in the restaurant, Daisuke accompanied Ken back to his college dorm. He had a nice spacious room, kind of like a nice hotel room, a shelf crammed with books and a modest laptop and television.

"Minomon Shinka! Wormmon!" Ken's partner called, getting into a form that made it easier to get around.

Chibimon had gone back to the Digital World via Daisuke's phone, but Wormmon was of course very worried about Ken. So worried that he couldn't exactly read the room to see that Ken and Daisuke may have wanted a little privacy, but they didn't mind so much. Ken put on the news for some background noise as Davis put a backpack with the Digiegg on the ground.

"Ken-chan, maybe you should have a nap," Wormmon suggested. 

"I'll be alright for a bit, don't worry. I just got a little shaken up. I feel better now." 

Daisuke sat beside him and held his hand, "you wanna talk about what happened?" 

"When I touched the egg, it was like everything came back to me. Everything I felt when I was the Digimon Kaiser. All the hate and despair, and everything when I came to my senses. All at once. It was so familiar, and when you're at the Dark Ocean there's this really unique feeling of dread and lifelessness. I felt that. It was like being there again, but… I don't know how to describe it, it was as if I was only there in my hands where I was touching the egg."

"Whatever bird laid that egg needs a psychiatrist." Wormmon quipped with concern. 

Daisuke's phone buzzed, he quickly flipped it out of his pocket, "Iori's waiting for a Digital Gate to open. You wanna go help fight something?" 

Ken sighed, "nah. I'm tired."

"I'm sure it won't be anything he can't handle," Wormmon chirped unknowingly.

Ken and Daisuke laid back comfortable together on the bed and loaded up one of Ken's favourite detective anime on a streaming site, but Ken quickly fell asleep in his boyfriend's soothing hold. 

***

The next morning Koshiro woke up early, of course he was a meticulous planner and he had a strict itinerary for his parents' anniversary. He had booked an entire restaurant in Akihabara out just for them and some extended family. A little out of touch with formality and romanticism, he thought a cute little okonomiyaki place would be ideal. But he also had elaborate decorations to put up there, as organised with the manager, and his aunt and grandparents were going to help him out. He was so distracted with packing everything that he didn't notice a digital gate alert go off, right in Akihabara's station square.

After a tiring journey lugging several boxes of family photos, streamers and banners all the way from Odaiba to Akihabara by train, he arrived at the station and put them all down by a bench to take a big rest. As he put his head back and sighed, his moment to relax was interrupted by yelling and a strong wind. Right before his eyes, the Digital Gate appeared. He groaned and grabbed his phone, unleashing Tentomon from it. 

Tentomon was also disgruntled, "Not the time or place. That's three days in a row." 

Koshiro browsed his messages, "nobody's said anything about this. They must all be busy. Or not checking the app. Typical. It's just us Tentomon." 

A giant armored leg stepped out of the gate first, and a huge sword was flung out, thrown by something. It landed right in one of the station walls and something leapt out of the gate at an impressive speed for how big it was. Thankfully Koshiro had already scanned it. 

"It's Knightmon! This could be trouble. But why are they attacking? They're usually docile." 

"Less chatting, more Digivicing, Koshoro-han!" Tentomon panicked. 

"R-Right," Koshiro stuttered, "let's just get you strong enough to throw Knightmon back through the gate." 

He grabbed his phone and pointed it to Tentomon, "Tentomon, Warp Evolve!" 

Tentomon braced for action… But nothing happened. Koshiro tugged at his hair, immensely stressed, "Again?! What is going on?!" 

Tentomon rushed over to Knightmon and opened out his wings, "PETIT THUNDER!" 

A laughably pathetic jolt of electricity bounced off Knightmon, who had just pulled their sword from the wall. They swung round with the massive weapon and hit Tentomon flying like a home run. The measly child Digimon was no match. 

"Tentomon, evolve!" Koshiro called out desperately, but again, nothing happened. 

By this time, the public had fled inside the station. It was just Koshiro, Tentomon and Knightmon; who was now starting to walk slowly to downtown. 

Koshiro collapsed to his knees. He had no friends to help. Things to do. At the same time, people to save. Tentomon couldn't evolve, what could they do? "You're smarter than this, Koshiro" he thought to himself, "you can figure something out." 

Tentomon flew down beside Koshiro and rested up against him, "I know you can figure something out Koshiro-han. You're the smartest guy on the planet."

Koshiro agreed, without a shred of modesty. He was insanely smart, especially when it came to Digimon. He had figured ways to read Digimon down to their bare data, replicated Digivice technology, created cloud spaces that Digimon and digital items could be stored in. Just last night, he had made it so anyone could access the Digimentals. 

Koshiro's heart skipped a beat.

He looked at his phone, his hands shaking. There was no way. It wouldn't work. He knew it wouldn't, he had researched it extensively. Taichi had tried it, it didn't happen. 

But there was a nagging feeling at the back of his head. Just an inkling of doubt, just a tug that he hadn't tried everything. 

He loaded up an app, tapped a file, took a deep breath in, and hoped his knowledge would come through.

"DIGIMENTAL UP!" Koshiro shouted for the first time ever. 

His phone radiated with an immense purple light, which directed itself toward Tentomon who shone brilliantly, the Crest of Knowledge projected onto his body, then he was engulfed by that light. 

"TENTOMON, ARMOR SHINKA!!!" 

Tentomon grew to twice his usual size, and his shape curved to form a long abdomen. His claws turned into pincers on his face, and six thin legs sprouted from his body. Tentomon's eyes turned to menacing black spots either side of his head, his face adorned with a gold Crest of Knowledge along it and on his eyes like a mask. His red bumpy body was now smooth and shone a brilliantly and beautifully reflective white. Hexagon scales lined his whole body as he glistened in the sunlight and triumphantly called out the name of his new form:

"REFLECTIVE BRAINSTORM, CYPHOMON!" 

"Prodigious…!" Koshiro gasped tears in his eyes, what was before him was perhaps his own personal culmination of his accomplishments thanks to his own knowledge, "GO GET EM!" 

Cyphomon's wings opened up to reveal a hive of tiny hexagonal exhaust pipes, which shot out a stream of white lasers as he ZOOMED toward Knightmon. Cyphomon looked like a ball of light because of how reflective his scales were, he looped around Knightmon who had to shield their bloodshot, unnatural eyes. 

"CHILIUS FLASH!" Cyphomon called out, rearing to show his back to Knightmon and spreading out his wings, emitting a series of flashes that would cause a seizure in a human. 

Knightmon shielded their eyes and growled, then closed them and ran blindly toward Cyphomon slashing their sword around madly while the bug Digimon's back was turned. They struck hard, forcing Cyphomon to the ground as he cried out in pain. 

"TRUE REFLECTION!" Cyphomon shouted, camouflaging perfectly into the ground and confusing Knightmon. He had disappeared. Knightmon was in too crazed of a state to notice the white streams Cyphomon still left behind as he jetted around in the air. 

"Koshiro-han! Ready a digital gate right in front of Knightmon!" Cyphomon shouted. 

Koshiro nodded and tapped away at his phone, "it closes in 20 seconds, that's all I can manage without my computer! Just 10 feet away!" 

"Roger!" 

A gate ripped open in front of Knightmon, Cyphomon reappeared behind the enemy, who quickly turned around and flung their sword. Cyphomon dodged out of the way, but that only meant the sword was going to hit Koshiro who was too busy opening the gate using his phone to see.

"MIRROR WALL SCALES!" Cyphomon called out desperately, as he shed one of his hexagon scales and it sped off in Koshiro's direction, weaving around the rushing sword and appearing in front of him, expanding to a much bigger clear hexagon.

The sword struck it, but the wall was too strong and the sword clattered to the ground. Koshiro gasped and looked up, only just seeing what had happened, then smirked at his partner's awesomeness and continued to work on the gate. 

Knightmon roared in anger and started swiping at Cyphomon with their fists, but he was too fast. Three more scales ejected from Cyphomon's back and expanded, turning into more hexagonic crystals as they swooped around Cyphomon and pressed against Knightmon, who struggled to fight back against their force as they were slowly pushed back. 

"Ten seconds!" Koshiro shouted. 

Cyphomon sent out more three more mirror scales, adding to the pressure, but Knightmon was still fighting back just enough, they might not make it into the gate. 

"FIVE SECONDS!" 

"REFRACTIVE FLASH!" Cyphomon called out, as the mirror scales hummed and slowly flowed a brilliant light before flashing like about fifty cameras at once, stunning, and hopefully not blinding, Knightmon who flinched and fell backward into the digital gate just a second before it closed. 

Koshiro collapsed to the ground and let out a giant sigh of relief as Cyphomon reverted back to Tentomon.

"That was amazing Tentomon, you were awesome, I don't know what we would have done if we hadn't performed a technological miracle," he smiled. 

"I agree, but I do have questions." his partner responded. 

"Yeah, me too. But for now, we have a party to set up." 

Koshiro looked in front of him at the gigantic sword left on the ground, and he sighed not of relief, but of frustration. 

***  
Miyako and Hikari had decided to grab lunch together at Skytree mall, Miyako was often so busy travelling that she had to rely on Hikari to catch her up on Digimon stuff. The sushi-go-round mall was fairly quiet that afternoon, the weather was grey and gloomy making for a cozy view of Tokyo from the top floor. Of course, Hawkmon and Tailmon were having their fill too, Tailmon especially taking advantage of the multitude of fish. 

"You said you had started looking for universities in Europe?" Hikari asked. 

"Yeah! That was my excuse to my parents just to go to Paris initially, but in the end it actually sounded like a good idea," Miyako explained, "I have some open days booked in Madrid this week too." 

"Hasn't the language barrier been a problem for you?" 

"Sure. Most of the time, but I'm a fast learner, and there's one word that gets its meaning across to everyone," a little bullet train on a rail arrived just in time with some nilgiri Miyako had ordered, "Bingo!" 

Hikari giggled, she had often found herself saying 'bingo!' too. It was kind of like a word in a secret language to them, although it wasn't exactly a secret. 

"So what Digimon stuff have I missed? Hawkmon is probably getting a little rusty with how long we've been out of action."

Hawkmon cocked an eyebrow, but then went back to sushi. 

"Well actually, as far as I can tell the last couple of days have been weird. A weird glitchy Digi-Egg turned up, kind of messed up Ken when he touched it… I'm not sure exactly what happened. Daisuke, Iori and Takeru have been in battles and haven't been able to evolve," Hikari explained. 

"They boys are… having THAT kind of trouble?" Miyako joked.

"You still bitter that Daisuke swooped in on Ken before you did?" Hikari giggled. 

"No!!" Miyako blushed, "I'm so over that! Besides, I kinda met a girl who can speak Japanese in Paris!" 

"Oh, you're dating?" 

"Well, no, I got her number. But I'm sure she's interested." 

Hikari smiled, "well, you can count on me to be your wing girl. Anyway, the guys can armor evolve just fine. In fact Daisuke discovered that we can share Digimentals and use them to get new forms." 

"We can do that?!" 

"I think everyone's had that exact reaction. Koshiro's actually been able to put Digimentals in a cloud server, we can use them at any time with his smartphones." 

"I swear that guy has no limits. Wait, so Hawkmon can try out some new forms right now?" 

"Sure, but so far only Iori's Digimentals are in there. We need to give Koshiro our D-Terminals." 

"Right. So we can only armor evolve. You know, that's a really familiar situation." 

Tailmon had taken notice of the conversation, "right. It's like when Ichijoji-kun was the Digimon Kaiser." 

Hawkmon added, "we've always been able to evolve normally in the real world. I wonder what's changed." 

Miyako got out her D-Terminal, "back when we were cleaning up after the Kaiser we were taking down Dark Towers. That's what jammed the regular evolution. But there's no way Ken has…" she stopped immediately into a stunned silence. 

"Miyako?" Hikari mumbled, and looked over her shoulder, and gasped. 

Miyako had pulled up the old map system they used to detect Dark Towers in the Digital World, but also had an atlas function for the real world. And there as a singular red dot, right in the northeast of the USA. 

There was a Dark Tower in the real world.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Enter Cyphomon! The first and definitely not last original Digimon appearing in this fanfic. I can't draw but I did do a crappy sketch of it, if you can find me on Twitter I'll post it in a few days. 
> 
> As of right now I have chapters up to chapter 8 planned out, and I've nearly finished writing chapter 5. So I'm hoping I can keep the ball rolling for weekly updates, let's see! Thanks for your support.


	4. Recollection

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Digidestined meet to discuss everything that's happened and try and make sense of what they've discovered.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Taken a break from writing for a week since work has been busy lately. I have chapter 5 done and I'll try and work on 6 in my spare time. Hoping to still stick to weekly releases, we'll see!

The chosen ones were chilled at the thought of Dark Towers reappearing, to say the least. It was a huge deal, so whoever was about Odaiba that very night gathered for a meeting at Aqua City mall. That included : Takeru, Hikari, Miyako, Daisuke, Ken, Iori and Joe. Everyone else was away or busy that night. They put their phones on the table so the Digimon could join the conversation too.

They met at the food court, though not eating anything because the anxiety had made all of them lose their appetite. The air was tense, nobody really knew what to say. 

"So, uh…" Ken cut the silence and smiled playfully, "I want to just say it now. I didn't do it." 

Everyone shared an appreciated laugh, it was unlike Ken to joke around like that and it was exactly what they needed to break the ice. They all felt a little more relaxed now. 

"Really though, I don't know anything about this. Have we figured out where it is yet?" Ken asked. 

"It's somewhere in America," Miyako explained, "the D-Terminals are way outdated so the map really isn't detailed enough." 

Hikari continued, "we need to plug it into Koshiro's computer to get an accurate reading, but he's celebrating his parents' anniversary tonight."

"As dire as this is," Tailmon's voice came from Hikari's phone, "we may have to wait until tomorrow." 

Everyone sighed and got a little gloomy again. 

"Wherever it is, I feel I should check it out. I've worked with them, I may be able to remember a thing or two and figure out how and why it's here," Ken volunteered.

Daisuke rummaged through his backpack and brought out the corrupted DigiEgg, placing it carefully on the table. 

"I wonder if these are linked. The Dark Tower makes the Digimon unable to evolve, and this egg has turned out funky. Maybe the Dark Tower is messing with its vibe or something." 

"Ah so this is that egg you were talking about," Miyako said studying it closely. 

"Those last couple of Digimon that came to the real world," Patamon wondered aloud, "DarkLizamon and MarineChimeramon. They were really drawn to people. And violent. Usually the ones that come through gates are just a little confused and need to be guided back, but these have been dangerous fights." 

"It all HAS to be connected," said Gomamon. 

Hikari stared at the egg intently, a serious and somewhat fearful expression coming to her face. She turned to Ken

"Ken, you didn't feel well after coming in contact with the egg, right?" 

Ken nodded, "you've been trapped in the Dark Ocean too. All the horrible feelings from being there came flooding back." 

Hikari hesitantly reached out in front of her, toward the egg. 

"WOAH!" Daisuke yelped, grabbing her arm to stop her, "I don't think that's a good idea. 

" We don't know what could happen," said Takeru. 

"How else are we going to get some answers?" Hikari asked. 

"I think you're better off safe than sorry, Hikari," said Joe. 

"Yeah. We don't know if it's a stroke of luck or what that Ken-chan made it out of his episode," Wormmon added. 

Hikari took a deep breath, nodded and took back her hand. After another moment of silence, the egg wobbles, and began to crack some more. Chips fell onto the table and immediately dissipated into nothing, then it stopped again. 

"I think it'll hatch soon," Patamon said. 

"Digi-Eggs don't normally take this long to hatch," Joe noted, "but of course this is probably a special case." 

"We should choose someone to look after it. I really can't lug it around, and it might not be a good idea to bring something this glitchy into the digital world," Daisuke said.

Takeru took the egg from the table and cradled it carefully, "I can take care of it. Maybe when it hatches we can finally learn something." 

Takeru's phone rang, and Koshiro's name came up on the screen. He answered. 

"Hello Koshiro," he greeted. 

"Hey Takeru. I just got a chance to catch up with the chat messages. You're all together, is that right?" 

"Yeah, we've just met up to talk about this whole situation. We think the egg, the Dark Tower and the frenzied Digimon are all linked." 

"I think so too. Put me on speaker, please." 

Takeru nodded, put him on speaker and put his phone on the table. 

"Hey everyone. I've just escaped to the bathroom to check my phone. Wow I sure missed a lot. And you guys have too, I have something extraordinary to tell you."

Koshiro told them about the fight with Knightmon and how Tentomon had armor evolved, everyone was shocked, confused and excited. 

"Does that mean I could armor evolve too?!" Gomamon beamed, "Joe! Let's try it! Right now!" 

"Settle down Gomamon," Joe chuckled, "there'll be a time for it." 

"I thought only Digimon with the ancient gene could armor evolve?" Ken wondered aloud. 

"And didn't Taichi try using my Digimental once? It didn't work," Miyako added. 

"Obviously these things have crossed my mind too," Koshiro said, "but I don't really have time to look into it now. Listen, you need to get better location data from the D-Terminal right? I can tell you where the spare key to my office is and access my computer remotely, but uh… I'll need to rush off to the bathroom again to do it, so call me when you're ready."

"BINGO! That's our Koshiro!" Miyako cheered, "we can solve this TONIGHT!" 

***

Koshiro's office was pretty tiny, so only Daisuke, Ken and Miyako went in the end. They got in and phoned Koshiro, who told them exactly what to do to help him access the PC and plug in a D-Terminal. 

"While you're there actually, we can upload your Digimentals to the cloud. This is a prodigious opportunity," Koshiro said, clearly sidetracked, "anyway. Just give me a moment."

A map of the world appeared on the computer screen, and a progress bar loaded data from the D-Terminal. After about a minute, it finished and a matching single red dot appeared on the giant monitor. Miyako used the mouse to zoom in. Closer. And closer. And closer.

It really was just one Dark Tower in the whole of America. It was in-

***

Washington D.C. Technically two hours later, but because of timezones, it was mid-morning.

Ken emerged from a Digital Gate, and stood around for a moment, waiting for someone. 

"Ichijoji-kun!" an enthusiastically bright voice called. 

Ken looked over to see Mimi waving to him from the other side of the street, so he crossed to meet her. 

"How crazy is it that just a minute ago you were in Tokyo?!" Mimi gasped. 

"Those gates are miracles. You save a ton on flights and visas. I think what we're doing is illegal," Ken laughed. 

Mimi laughed too, "ah well. It's important chosen children stuff, right? Well I suppose we're not children anymore. Still, what a coincidence that I'm visiting Washington right now." 

"Yeah, it just means everyone else can go to sleep," Ken sighed, "but we really should check this out right away." 

Mimi and Ken exchanged a serious look for a moment. 

"I suspect foul play," Ken noted. 

"Right." Mimi turned around, and looked at the structure behind her, "it's unbelievable. The Washington Monument… A Dark Tower? How did we never notice?" 

"They can be turned off," Ken explained, "but I wonder if it's always been like this? This thing is over a hundred years old."

"You used to use your D3 to control these things right? Can you do it now?" Mimi asked. 

Ken brought out his old D3. Though Koshiro's smartphones did use Digivice technology, he had only really ported over storage, Crest and evolution functions. There was a lot the old ones could still so better, though they were rarely used. Ken played around with it for a moment, but a look of disappointment struck him. 

"I can't access it. It's like when Archenimon and Mummymon were using them, it's not mine, I can't do anything with it." 

"What can we do then?" Mimi pondered. 

"We can't exactly blow up the Washington Monument." Ken said grimly. 

Ken and Mimi went to sit on a bench, overlooking the Reflecting Pool. Ken stared at the Monument still, pondering what they could do. Thoughts flashed through his head; young adults couldn't exactly contact the CIA about this. This was way outside their usual scope. They'd be labeled terrorists if they destroyed it, even for good cause. The damage would be enormous. This could be a losing battle. 

"This is too much for me to think about," Mimi sighed. 

Ken let out a defeatist chuckle, "yeah. Me too." 

"Even Ichijoji-kun's stumped," Mimi thought aloud. 

Ken finally turned around to look at the pool, but instantly he choked on his breath and his pupils shrank in fear. 

"Mimi… Are you seeing this?" he quivered. 

"The pool? It's beautiful isn't it?" Mimi smiled, but then noticed Ken's expression and frowned, putting a hand on his shoulder, "Ken? What's wrong?" 

Ken stood up and looked in terror. What he saw before him was the pool… But the water was an unmistakably murky grey. 

"Mimi… Is the water… grey?" Ken gasped. 

Mimi studied it for a second, "it looks normal to me."

"It kind of looks like the Dark Ocean. Something really bad is going on. But only I can see this? I need to…" 

Ken got his phone out, and quickly contacted Hikari. She was the only one who would get what he was talking about. A few minutes later she came through a Digital Gate, confused tourists be damned. She met up with Mimi and Ken and they all shared the sight. 

Hikari gasped, "You're right. And if Mimi doesn't see it, but we do…" 

"Just what is going on?" Mimi yelled. 

***

A bullet train zoomed across the Japanese countryside, on its way to Tokyo. It was late, and two passengers had been on from Tottori. They were tired for the long journey, having had a little tour between stops. 

"Man, I've barely checked my messages this week," Taichi laughed, "I wonder what I've been missing."

He pulled out his phone, the first thing he saw was a message from Agumon: "Taichi… You have a lot to catch up on when you get back to Tokyo."

Meiko, sat next to him holding Meicoomon on her lap, leaned over to look. 

"That's a lot of messages…" she noticed. 

Perhaps it was left ambiguously, but Meicoomon did indeed survive events four years prior. And nothing had gone particularly wrong since. They lived peacefully together. They decided not to fight in Digimon incidents that occurred in Tottori, thankfully there were other people partnered with Digimon in the area who could. 

Taichi and Meiko were in a long distance relationship, and for the first time in a while Taichi had gone to Tottori to visit her, and was bringing her back to stay with him for a couple of weeks. 

"This is the Chosen Children group chat," Taichi said, scrolling through, "wow. Oh. Oh wow. Maybe I shouldn't have left." 

"What's happened?" Meicoomon asked. 

Taichi gathered the information and relayed everything that had happened the past few days to Meiko. 

"That's… That's a lot." she said. 

"And I'm bringing you back into all this. I'm sorry, Meiko!" Taichi sighed leaning back into his seat. 

Meiko smiled and rested her head on his shoulder, "it's okay. You had no way of knowing. Besides, Mei-chan and I don't have to get directly involved even if you do. And I will totally understand." 

"You're so good Meiko" Taichi smiled, then looked at Meicoomon, "don't worry buddy. I won't drag you into this." 

Meicoomon smiled, "I don't like fighting… But if I have to I won't be afraid." 

"I'll try and make sure it doesn't come to that," Taichi promised. 

"It'll be nice to have everyone together again at least," Meiko smiled. 

"Well, almost. Sora and Mimi are abroad, and Yamato has entrance exams for university, so naturally he's studying for the first time in his life," Taichi joked, then his phone buzzed, "Scratch that. Mimi's back in Tokyo."

"I thought she was in America?" 

"Digital Gates." 

"Oh, right." 

Taichi loaded up the app that let him speak to Agumon, "Agumon! Looks like we have some catching up to do, pal." 

"Hmmm… How about we meet up for some burgers? Your treat!" Agumon asked cheekily. 

"Yeah, yeah. I'll have you well fed. Anyway, Agumon, you've heard about Bearmon right? Joe seems to be looking into it." 

"The Digimon bringing back memories from before the reboot," Agumon noted. 

"That's the one. Do you know them?" 

"Never met him."

"This is probably something we should look into. Though this seems more up Ken's street than anything. He's the one who wants to be a private investigator after all." 

"Ken and Stingmon did help me find out who had stolen all the candy I brought from the real world! Scumon won't be messing with me again, I'll tell you that." Agumon laughed. 

A nice tune chimed around the train; "Tokyo Station, next stop will be Tokyo Station. Change here for Tokyo Metro services."

Taichi held Meiko's hand and smiled, "looks like I've got a lot of leading to do."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter actually looks a lot shorter than I thought it did lol. Well, the next chapter is the longest one so far and there's quite a bit in it I'm excited about. See you again next week, and thank you for reading!


	5. Danger

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Meiko and Taichi catch up with Takeru and Hikari, having been a bit out of touch with recent events. And overseas, Sora finds a concerning ally to fight an invading Digimon.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well, now we're caught up to where I've written. Work has kind of sapped my energy recently and it's only going to get busier since a second lockdown for the UK was announced today, and I already saw the effects in the supermarket I work in over the course of the day.
> 
> Still! I have planned the next 3 or 4 chapters already, so I'm not in a creative rut or anything. I'm sure I can knock out the chapters one at a time on my days off. I promise I have some exciting stuff lined up!

From the full force of a powerful blow, Armadimon rolled into a ball and collided with a traffic light, loosening it from its hinges. 

"Shit…!" Iori grunted.

He was on his way back from a job interview in Kanda, when a Digital Gate had opened right in front of the station. There were still bystanders milling about, and the fight was happening in the middle of the road. Nanimon had emerged, swearing and yelling at everyone, throwing suspicious pink goop at people. 

"Is that all you got, stupid little rodent?" Nanimon laughed. 

Iori thought for a moment. He always had to be careful fighting in the middle of the city, he didn't want to cause any property damage. Armadimon wasn't strong enough to fight Nanimon alone. Digmon wasn't suited to less destructive attacks, and Submarimon was useless out of the water. He didn't have access to Ankylomon, so his only option was to try something new, albeit blindly. 

"DIGIMENTAL UP!" Iori called. 

Projected from his phone came the Crest of Friendship, which merged with Armadimon. 

"ARMADIMON ARMOR SHINKA!" 

Armadimon combined with the Digimental of Friendship, mid-evolution he leapt toward Nanimon revealing his new form. 

"SEPIKMON!" 

The new Digimon immediately launched his huge boomerang toward Nanimon, "SPIRIT BOOMERANG!" 

It collided with Nanimon, barely grazing him. The vulgar Digimon belted out obnoxious laughter. 

"Is that all you got, you mask wearing freak?! I aughta-" he stopped. 

Suddenly all around Nanimon ghosts of humans, all staring him down. It freaked him out. 

"What the hell is going on here?" he cried. 

Sepikmon had disappeared. The spirits all moaned painfully and started marching toward Nanimon. Sepikmon hung behind him from a streetlight by the tail, and gave Iori a thumbs up. Iori nodded and processed a Digital Gate, confused as to what was going on, but he got the message. Only Nanimon and Sepikmon could see the ghosts. The gate opened and Sepikmon leaned right up to Nanimon. 

"BOO!" 

Nanimon absolutely bolted forward crying hysterically into the Digital Gate which shut behind him. Perhaps the least messy battle for the past few days for any of the Digidestined. 

"Nice job, Sepikmon," Iori smiled. 

"Wanna see dead people, Iori-kun?" Sepikmon joked waving his boomerang at his partner. 

"N-no," Iori said flustered, "let's just go home."

***

Later that mid-afternoon; Taichi, Meiko, Takeru and Hikari met at Pallet Town for a catch-up. The area was bustling with tourists since it was a great day with clear skies. The restaurants and cafes were pretty busy, leaving nowhere for them to sit down so they just wandered about, to the point even looking at the Toyota cars in the showcase seemed interesting as a backdrop to their conversation, but things had gotten quiet. Clashing with his usually on point fashion sense, Takeru had the digi-egg around his waist in a baby harness. He decided to break the silence.

"Hey, for old times sake, why don't we ride the ferris wheel?" he smiled. 

"I really don't like heights…" whimpered Meiko. 

Taichi put his arm around her and hugged her securely, "you'll be alright, I'll be there. Nothing will go wrong. We can even bring out the Digimon." 

"Yeah don't worry Meiko," Hikari smiled, "we used to go all the time as kids. It'll be fun!" 

Meiko hesitantly agreed. For how busy it was, there was absolutely no line for the ferris wheel. They managed to get straight on, and released Patamon, Agumon, Meicoomon and Tailmon from their phones. It was a little cramped, but none of them minded. It was relaxing and the Digimon were loving the view, but Meiko was absolutely avoiding looking anywhere but the floor. 

"S-so, T-Takeru… how's Yamato?" she huffed out as Taichi rubbed her back.

Taichi kind of perked up, he and Yamato were on good terms for once yet they didn't speak too much, but he was always interested in seeing how he was even if he was a bit shy to ask himself.

"He's good! He's usually playing with his band-" 

"Knife of Day?" 

"What? K.O.D?" Takeru laughed, "they haven't been a thing for like two years. His new band's name is English, "Metal Wolf Claw"."

"Can Yamato-san stay friends with anyone?" Tailmon sighed.

Everyone except Taichi laughed, it wasn't so funny to him since he was usually the one at odds with the guy. 

"Cheer up Taichi, you guys are friends." Agumon said. 

"Give it a week," Patamon laughed. 

Taichi sighed and smiled, "Okay, okay. Hey, we haven't had problems for a long time now. Those jokes don't make sense anymore."

Takeru continued, "Anyway, now he's starting university, so his time is pretty evenly split between band time and studying. He's been too busy to help with Digimon invasions recently."

"Is this ride nearly over yet?" Meiko squeaked. 

Meicoomon looked out the window, "we've barely lifted off the ground." 

"Ohhh no…" Meiko gasped.

Taichi held Meiko's hand tight, "why don't you just take a look outside. It's not so bad. Nothing will happen."

"And if it does, I'll just evolve to Pegasmon and take you back to the ground," Patamon smiled. 

Meiko slowly and nervously looked up, and out the window. Her heart was pounding, but the wonderful sight of the bay area eased her mind. 

"You're right. It's beautiful." she smiled, then quickly looked down again, "but I can't look for long!" 

Takeru gasped, the egg on his torso started wobbling crazily. It started glowing bright. 

"Is this-?" Hikari mumbled. 

The egg lifted from the baby pouch and floated in the air, changing shape, hatching! From the fresh light came a small smoky Digimon. 

"Oh, it's Mokumon," Patamon noticed. 

"Welcome to the world," Meicoomon smiled. 

The baby Digimon stared at everyone, but lastly and mostly Meicoomon. It smiled and floated over to her, snuggling her fluffy neck. 

"Mama, mama!" it shouted happily. 

Meiko was immediately confused, "It thinks Mei-chan is its mama?"

"How cute," Taichi laughed.

"Alright Mokumon, come back to papa Takeru," he smiled. 

Mokumon totally ignored him and continued to snuggle Meicoomon. She was kind of embarrassed but happy to be shown such love by another Digimon, especially after a troubled past with them. 

"Well I suppose we can look after it while we're in Tokyo," offered Meiko, "if there's some bad Digimon stuff going on you guys will need to take action, so maybe it'd be better for Mokumon to stay with me." 

"I don't think you'll be separating it from Meicoomon anyway," Hikari laughed. 

Mokumon stopped smothering Meicoomon, curious about the window. It floated over by Meiko, who looked out with it. 

"This is Odaiba, it's a beautiful place. You can live here until we find out what's going on in the Digital World." 

Taichi grinned and tapped Meiko on the shoulder, "hey Meiko…" 

"What?" 

Takeru caught on and smirked, "looks like you're over your fear of heights." 

Meiko realised what was happening and looked immediately back at the floor of the car, her face flushed red with blush, "oh god. Oh god we're right at the top, WE'RE RIGHT AT THE TOP!!" 

***

Sora was hesitant, perhaps a little nervous. It had been a while since she fought a Digimon, but she couldn't just let it go rampaging. She had kept up with what was happening with her friends in Tokyo, she could tell something was awry, and now she finds out a Digimon is emerging right in London where she is that night?

She was there for a fashion show, having won a competition from a London based university to have her designs on the catwalk. That had come and gone, so she was a tourist for a few days and scheduled to go back to Tokyo tomorrow. But just her luck, Koshiro told her about the Digimon just in time. 

She got out of the underground station at Covent Garden, the city swallowed in pretty dusk night lights. The Digital Gate was set to emerge right above a shopping center. Sora didn't have the confidence to evacuate people, there was no way she could alert that many people to what was happening. Hopefully, the presence of Digimon would cause everybody to run away.

Sora held out her phone, "Piyomon, let's go!" 

The pink bird Digimon came flying out of the screen. 

A voice speaking English called out from beside Piyomon, "Oh, is that a Digimon?" 

Sora turned around to look and saw a teenage British girl, "I've not actually met someone else with a Digimon." 

"Ah, yes. Digimon! Sorry, my English is no good." Sora replied. 

The girl opened up a handbag from which a Puwamon poked out, "this is Puwamon, and I'm Chloe." 

"My name is Sora, my Digimon is Piyomon," Sora smiled, "this will be dangerous, please go away." 

"Go away?" Chloe said confused, "what's wrong?" 

"There will be a bad Digimon!" Sora stressed. 

Chloe smirked and pulled out a Digivice, "We can fight! No problem!" 

Puwamon nodded and leapt out of the bag as the Digivice started to glow. 

"PUWAMON DIGIVOLVE TO… SPARROWMON!" 

Piyomon smiled at Sora and said in Japanese, "we could use any help we can get!" 

Sora nodded and brought out her phone to show Chloe the data Koshiro had collected on the Digimon before it emerges. 

"It is Yatagaramon. It is… Um…" she counted on her fingers for its level, she didn't know how to say it in English, "level 5. Piyomon is level 3, yes?" 

Sparrowmon nodded, "I think I know what you mean. Chloe, it's an Ultimate level." 

"It flies like our Digimon. We must be careful. We don't want to hurt people." 

"If we take to the sky, we should be fine." 

"Okay. It will come any second now. Chloe, can you evolve again?" 

"Evolve? Do you mean Digivolve? We can!" Chloe pointed her Digivice at Sparrowmon, "Sparrowmon, Digivolve!"

Sparowmon rose up and posed triumphantly, "SPARROWMON DIGIVOLVE TO…" 

… nothing. She didn't change. People were staring. "It's those bloody monsters again," some angry middle aged man grunted. 

"Crap. What?" Chloe growled, pressing buttons on her Digivice furiously, "come on! Where's RaptorSparrowmon?" 

"It doesn't work. There is a problem in America." Sora sighed. 

"What does that have to do with anything?" Sparrowmon asked. 

There was a loud BOOM as a Digital Gate opened outside of the mall, high in the air. Sora dialed Koshiro on her phone, he answered right away despite it being early hours of the morning in Japan. 

"Koshiro, I'm about to fight Yatagaramon with a British girl and her Sparrowmon, but we can't evolve. This won't end well," she panicked. 

"If your two Child Digimon can't match up to the Perfect… you may have one more option. This is a good testing opportunity. Listen…" 

Sora listened to Koshiro's instructions and understood… To an extent. She didn't get how it worked but she trusted her friend. 

Yatagaramon came shooting down through the digital gate which closed behind it. It screeched as it frantically flew above people, who ran away screaming. It kept darting between people, but didn't actually hurt anyone. It was like it was observing them for moments at a time.

"RANDOM LAZER!" Sparrowmon called, unleashing a barrage of plasma at the bird Digimon. It got pissed off quick and turned its sights on Sparrowmon. 

"GURENDAMA!!" Yatagaramon screeched as fireballs spewed from the spikes on its wings right at Sparrowmon. It hurt. A lot. 

"Sparrowmon!" Chloe called as her Digimon fell to the ground, "come on. Get up, we gotta win this." 

"Yeah Chloe… Let's go." Sparrowmon smirked as she got up, and Chloe climbed on her back. Sparrowmon took off right toward Yatagaramon as Chloe clenched a fist and leant back, then Leapt off of Sparrowmon onto Yatagaramon's back and started punching it in the head. 

" WHAT IS SHE DOING?!" Sora screamed. 

"She's going to get herself killed! And I can't attack, I might hit her!" Piyomon gasped. 

Yatagaramon struggled in the air trying to shake off Chloe, but the girl had an amazing grip. Sparrowmon rose above them then started hurtling down, braced for impact. 

" CRASH BOOM!!" she called, snacking right into Yatagaramon who flinched suddenly in surprise, causing Chloe to lose her grip. Thankfully Sparrowmon caught her and stood Chloe back on top of her. 

"Chloe! Don't do that! Stop!" Sora shouted to the sky. 

"It's OK! We do this all the time!" Chloe smirked like a goblin, saluting Sora. 

"We need to act fast, Piyomon. Let's try what Koshiro said." Sora sighed. 

Piyomon nodded as Sora brought out her phone, loaded an app and pointed the phone at her partner. 

"DIGIMENTAL UP!" 

And yes, it worked again! The Crest of Love projected onto Piyomon as she rose up and began to glow, merging with the Digimental of Love. 

"PIYOMON, ARMOR SHINKA…!" 

Piyomon stretched out her wings which expanded and became pointed at the top, bottom and side like kites, completely covered by steel. Her pink colour turned a crimson red. Her torso curved upward, and her bushy tail turned into a flexible thin shape ending in a trident, like it was on the end of a whip. Her head also became pointy and her beak was with grey armor. She wore a knight helmet embroidered with the Crest of Love. Around her torso an armour chest plate bolted on securely. Her new demeanour was menacing and predatory. 

"KITEMON!" she triumphantly called. 

Kitemon immediately folded up, lurching her head, tail and wings forward to form a nasty sharp point with her trident tail right in the middle, and shot off like a bullet. 

"PIERCING WINGS!" She shouted, as she struck Yatagaramon at incredible speed over and over again, nipping it with painful points over and over. The Digimon cried out. It was totally started and distracted. 

"Koshiro, the gate! Now!" Sora shouted down her phone. 

Sparrowmon rose above Yatagaramon, as a digital gate appeared below them in the air. Chloe jumped off of Sparrowmon, holding her fist out, and Sparrowmon followed suit, and then Kitemon, the three of them joined forces to deliver a final blow! 

They made impact and Yatagaramon passed out, falling right into the gate.

"Close it!" Sora cheered. 

The gate closed, and Sparrowmon caught Chloe before she hit the ground. 

"Kitemon, that was amazing!" Sora beamed, "you were so fast I couldn't even see you! And those points are deadly. Let's be careful with those." 

Kitemon smirked as she glowed and separated from the Digimental, reverting back to Piyomon. 

"Why did you get to Digivolve?" Chloe whined. 

"It's a secret!" Sora winked, then frowned, "actually… I don't know. I need to ask Koshiro." 

"You were proper mint out there, Piyomon!" Chloe smiled, ruffling Piyomon's head, "you too Sparrowmon!" 

"I'm… What?" Piyomon pouted. Her English was worse than Sora's. 

"I don't know either," Sora sighed with a smile, "Chloe. That was so dangerous. Please don't fight Digimon yourself." 

Chloe grinned, "nah, don't even worry. I do it all the time when one shows up."

"All the time?!" Sora gasped. 

Chloe clubbed onto Sparrowmon, "anyway, I gotta go home. My mum'll be well mad if I'm late. See ya Sora, fix that Digivolving problem, okay?" 

And the pair flew off into the night leaving a very confused Sora to reflect on what in the world she just witnessed. 

***

That same time, over in Tokyo, Meiko slept in Taichi's living room with Meicoomon on her lap, and Mokumon on HER lap. It was such a cute sight, but something in the air was wrong. Mokumon woke up and started staring. 

Taichi's mom's computer started up on its own, and the very familiar Digiport opened up. The screen shone brightly, so bright it woke up Meiko, who's movements woke up the others. 

"What?" she fumbled sleepily, going to the computer to turn it off, carrying the two Digimon with her. 

But as she approached the screen, she found herself being forcefully sucked in. She yelled for a moment but was cut off by her going all the way in and ending up in… 

… The Digital World. In the dead of night. Meiko and the two Digimon flew out of a tiny TV set. 

"What's going on?" Meicoomon cried. 

"I don't know… I'm scared." Meiko whimpered. 

THUD. 

Something was coming. 

THUD. 

Something big. 

A shadow eclipsed the trio. Before them, a huge and terrifying Digimon. Deathmon. 

"DEATH CLAW!" the Digimon shrieked.

Meiko screamed loudly, and Meicoomon jumped in the way to take the blow, but then Meiko's Digivice, conveniently in her pocket, began to shine, as did Meicoomon. 

"MEICOOMON! CHOU SHINKA…!"

The new form blocked Deathmon's attack and gave it a nasty swiping punch, knocking it right back. 

"MEICRACKMON!"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Enter Kitemon! I live in the UK, so I absolutely had to write London in here at some point. Covent Garden is one of my favourite places to visit, it's near some great shops like Forbidden Planet which sells all things comics and pop culture, and ArtBox which is the number one stop for cute Sanrio and Pusheen stuff.
> 
> I really like how in Adventure 02 the Spanish Gotsumon used the Spanish dub term for evolution in the original Japanese version, so I decided to put that here too with the British Sparrowmon. Not sure if Chloe will appear again yet but I liked writing her as a crazy Masaru-esque character so perhaps we'll see her again. 
> 
> Do you think you've spotted an inconsistency with something that's been happening in the fic at the end there? Don't you worry, I know what I'm doing! Sit tight for answers! Next chapter is going to be an interesting one and potentially quite introspective. I'm actually not sure how much of my plan I want to keep in it, I may move some plot points to the next few chapters.


	6. Fray

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Meiko is stranded in the Digital World.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the late upload, I had a little bit of a block on top of my lack of creative drive but I've managed to pull the chapter in a slightly different direction to how I planned it, and I like what I did instead! The plot is a little less rushed the way I've done it now which can add to some suspense (and less ass pulls) later.

Meiko breathed a sigh of relief. She hated fighting, and since Ordinemon she and Meicoomon never had. But she knew the day would come. Though, she couldn't shake the feeling. Something was different about Meicrackmon this time. She was a lot less rigid and edgy, more fluffy and serene. Didn't Taichi say they weren't able to evolve normally? Who knew so many thoughts could flick through her head in a split second.

Deathmon swooped up into the air and Meicrackmon followed.

The Digimon screeched again, "DEATH CLAW!!" and made a beeline for Meicrackmon, who blocked with her own claw and pushed against the pressure. 

"FELT CLONE!" 

Tiny fuzz balls with kitty faces poked out from the tuft of fur on Meicrackmon's chest and pelted themselves at Deathmon, barraging it with the most adorable attack ever, but it hurt and stung a lot, leaving a mark and causing Deathmon to flinch and fly back. 

Meicrackmon launched a kick at Deathmon and then scratched it with her huge claws. The Digimon cried out in pain, the. Slashed back, digging its ferocious claws into Meicrackmon's shoulder. She screamed as Deathmon pulled her in closer. 

"Meicrackmon, fight back!" Meiko called, but the Digimon was too distracted by the pain.

Light began to gather around Deathmon's eye, a menacing charging of a deadly attack. 

"MEICRACKMON!" Meiko cried. 

"Mama!!" Mokumon called in Meiko's arms. 

Without even thinking, Meiko pulled out her Digivice from her pocket, not noticing it had turned a sandy yellow from the Super Evolution. She stretched her arm out toward her partner. 

"Please, we need to fight!" Meiko whispered to herself, afraid to say it. 

The Digivice shone, and Meicrackmon felt a burst of energy. She shoved Deathmon aside, who was still charging its attack, and rose triumphantly in the air as she began to glow. 

"MEICRACKMON, KYUUKYOKU SHINKA!!" 

She evolved once again, attaining a new majestic ultimate form and shone brilliantly in the dark Digital World air. Meiko had to shield her eyes, but she couldn't help but look at the new Digimon.

"RASIELMON!"

Deathmon shrieked and jolted toward Rasielmon and the two slashed at each other ferociously, both absolutely determined to win the battle. Deathmon reared back and started to charge its eye laser, and Rasielmon rose her arms high and gathered light for an attack. Her pupils turned white and a bright mass appeared around her paws. 

With every ounce of power it could muster in that quick of a time, Deathmon shot a harrowing red beam of light. 

"KNOWLEDGE STREAM!" Rasielmon called, unleashing a rainbow to contest the deadly laser. 

The two clashed, causing a shock wave to resonate around the area. Meiko fell over and held Mokumon tight, watching as the two beams of energy fought for dominance. Raiselmon's attack took priority and began to push back against Deathmon's. Startled, the opposing Digimon quickly landed on the ground as the attack flew right over its head. It stared menacingly at Meiko, before sinking down into a shadowy portal in the ground, disappearing entirely. 

The silence afterward left Meiko's ears ringing, only the sound of her own breathing and a light breeze filled the air. Rasielmon landed in front of her and knelt down. 

"I hope you didn't get hurt, Mei," she said. 

"I'm fine," Meiko smiled, "Mei-chan, you evolved… This isn't the form you took before." 

Rasielmon looked at her arms and body and nodded, "I had to protect you." 

"Thank you… Let's try not to fight again though. This was an emergency." 

Meiko looked behind her at the television set they arrived through, decades old and busted. 

"Do you know how to get us home?" Rasielmon asked. 

"I think…" Meiko thought hard, "I've seen Miyako do it before."

She pointed her Digivice at the TV, "DigiPort open!" 

But nothing happened. Meiko fiddled around with the television, but it didn't respond to any button presses.

"DigiPort open! DigiPort open!!!" she tried again to no avail. 

She sighed and fell to the ground. She didn't have a D-Terminal like the others, her phone had no signal, Koshiro hasn't upgraded it beyond being able to transport Meicoomon. She had no way to communicate with Taichi or anyone, and even so it was the very early time of the morning. Nobody would notice she was gone for hours. Rasielmon reverted to Meicoomon and cuddled up with Meiko. 

"We'll get home, Mei. Don't you worry." 

Mei smiled and pet her Digimon partner, "You're right. I'm sure the others will find us eventually." 

Meiko finally took the moment to check her surroundings. She was by a huge lake and just over the other side was a small village. Mokumon was snoring lightly as it slept. What a good idea, Meiko thought. Maybe there would be a bed she could borrow in the village. She began to trek around the lake. 

Meiko had a weird air of confidence about her, "It's just us, Meicoomon, so we need to buck up our ideas and look out for ourselves!" 

"What?" Meicoomon asked, confused. 

"Let's see… What would the others do in a situation like this?" Meiko pondered. 

She straightened her posture, shifted her glasses to her forehead and clenched her fists, putting on a goofy deeper voice, "Taichi would say: okay! Let's stop at nothing to get home! We don't need to eat or sleep, the sooner we get this sorted, the better!" 

She then brought out her phone and pretended to type rapidly with it, "Koshirou-San would be like: okay, let's analyse the situation. We were thrust into the Digital World against our will and immediately met by an evil Digimon who wanted to kill us. Prodigious! The events must be linked!" 

Meicoomon laughed, Meiko wasn't going mad but this was strangely out of character for her. This was her way of coping with their situation, trying to keep herself calm and figure out what to do next. 

"BINGO! Miyako would figure out that it's all to do with the weird stuff that's been going on recently. We must be here for a reason! So then Daisuke would say: we must have some crazy mission to do! And Ken would tell everyone to leave it to him. He'll figure it all out. But… I don't have any idea what I'm doing."

"Then Joe would…" Meiko slouched and groaned, "complain about all the walking. My feet hurt… Let's just get to the village and sleep."

Within a short while and some more impersonations later, they arrived at the village. Just a few uninhabited stone houses. Yet inside, a single lounge fully and extravagantly furnished. Meiko collapsed onto a bed, thinking about how it was way more comfortable than Taichi's sofa, and fell asleep almost instantly. 

***

Meiko was woken up slowly by a beam of sunlight on her face and the smell of food… FOOD! She bolted awake, Meicoomon and Mokumon were already up chasing each other around the room. 

"How about we get some breakfast?" Meiko smiled. 

The Digimon cheered and followed the smell of scrambled eggs. The place they ended up at wasn't familiar to them, but to anyone else on the team it would have been. Digitamamon's restaurant. They entered brazen with hunger. 

"Welcome!" Digitamamon shouted from the kitchen. 

The restaurant was almost entirely empty, but there was one patron. A bear Digimon wearing a cap. Digitamamon emerged from the kitchen, balancing a plate of scrambled eggs on his head. Skillfully he placed it down in front of the Digimon. 

"Here you are, Bearmon. On the house, I can only thank you for what you did for me." 

Bearmon smiled, speaking with a weirdly matured voice, "no problem at all." 

Digitamamon approached Meiko as Bearmon started eating, she stared at the Digimon, as if something was right at the back of her mind. 

"What can I get you?" Digitamamon asked. 

Meiko was fully distracted. Meicoomon poked her gently with a claw, "oh! Uh, can we get three plates of scrambled egg please?" 

"Sure thing. That comes to 9 DigiDollars." 

"DigiDollars?!" Meiko panicked, she was in her pyjamas and had nothing on her but her Digivice, "I don't have any money!" 

"Always with you humans and wanting free food! Do they not feed you in your world? No money, no eggs!"

As the egg Digimon wandered back into the kitchen, Meiko closed her eyes and sighed as her stomach rumbled. She heard a scraping of something, and looked down to see Bearmon had slid his partly eaten portion of egg over to her. 

"I wasn't particularly hungry anyway," Bearmon smiled. 

Meiko's eyes shone, "thank you so much!" 

She ate about half of the eggs, then passed the plate to Meicoomon, then to Mokumon. It wasn't enough to fill them but it was better than nothing. 

"What can we do to make it up to you?" Meicoomon asked. 

"Don't worry about it, Digitamamon only fed me because I helped him out with something. I'm Bearmon, by the way." 

Hearing the name again made it click in Meiko's head. Bearmon… 

"The same Bearmon that's bringing back Digimon's memories from before the Digital World was rebooted?!" 

"Yeah, that's me," Bearmon smirked sheepishly. 

"My friends will have so many questions. Oh, if only I had a way to get back to my world…"

As if on cue, there was a familiar sounding boom from outside the restaurant. A digital gate opening. Meiko turned to look and saw Taichi running into the building. She smiled and they hugged tight as they reunited. 

"Oh my god, thank god you're here!" Meiko smiled. 

Taichi laughed, "Thank god YOU'RE HERE! We were looking all over for you!" 

"Mei-Mei!" Mimi called, running into the building to join the hug. 

"Mimi!!" Meiko laughed. 

The three broke up the hug. 

"It was Mimi's idea to see if you were in the Digital World," Taichi explained, "we all thought there was no way, you'd have no reason to go, but Koshiro managed to track your Digivice." 

Meiko then explained everything that had happened, about Deathmon and Meicoomon evolving, and now… 

"Wait, this is THAT Bearmon?" Taichi gasped. 

"I heard you might have questions for me," Bearmon noted. 

"Yeah, but…" Taichi was taken aback for a moment, Bearmon's voice was distantly familiar to him. Though he had never met the Digimon before, Taichi was sure he had heard his voice, "unfortunately, we have plans today and we're already running late. It'll have to wait until another time." 

"Well, I've been staying in the village here. I'll sometimes go off somewhere because a Digimon's asked me to return memories, but if you find me I'll be up for a chat." 

"Right," Mimi nodded, "thanks Bearmon. We'll be in touch." 

Taichi, Mimi, Meiko and their Digimon departed through a digital gate, and had to leave right away on their return to pick up Sora from Haneda airport. They had planned a spa day to help her unwind from jetlag. Meiko was looking forward to it after the unexpected night she had in the Digital World, forced to fight against her reluctance. She had a lot of thoughts to gather. She now felt like she had to help the others, she couldn't just stand around watching while they fought an invading Digimon. But she had promised Meicoomon a peaceful life after the turmoil they had been through. She didn't want to fight again. But little did she know next time would be very soon.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Not sure when I expect to finish the next chapter but I do have some time off coming up, so look forward to what's next!


End file.
